Fresh out of prison, the sadistic Max Cady (Robert Mitchum) determines to have his revenge on Sam Bowden (Gregory Peck), the lawyer who sent him away. But Cady is smart. He sticks to menacing Bowden's wife and teenage daughter with obscene phonecalls and implied threats, and never does anything which would give the police the right to arrest him. It is therefore Bowden who, in order to protect his fa19mily, must go beyond the confines of the law and seek to engage Cady in a direct confrontation. Famed for Mitchum's sinister performance and Bernard Herrmann's atmospheric score, 'Cape Fear' is one of the great classics of the late studio era. It was remade by Martin Scorcese in 1962. Amazon.co.uk Review Cape Fear is a 1962 American psychological thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese and a remake of the 1962 film of the same name. It stars Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange and Juliette Lewis and features cameos from Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum and Martin Balsam, who all appeared in the 1962 original film.Superior to Martin Scorsese's punishing 1962 remake, this 1962 thriller directed by J. Lee Thompson ( The Guns of Navarone) stars as a creepy ex-con angry at the attorney () whom he believes is responsible for his incarceration. After Mitchum makes clear his plans to harm Peck's family, a fascinating game of crisscrossing ethics and morality takes place. Where the more recent version seemed trapped in its explicitness, Thompson's film accomplishes a lot with a more economical and telling use of violence. The result is a richer character study with some Hitchcockian overtones regarding the nature of guilt. -- Tom Keogh